Shatabdi Express

Shatabdi Expresses are a series of superfastFacts|date=September 2008 passenger trains which are being operated by Indian Railways, to serve as connections between Metro towns and important cities and business centers. Shatabdi Expresses are day trains and they return to the station of origin, the same day.

Shatabdi and Rajdhani Express are the fastest trains in India, and Indian Railways considers them to be prestigious trains. While the Shatabdi Express series of trains run over short distances, Rajdhani Expresses are long-distance trains connecting Delhi to various state capitals. Both series of trains have a regular speed of 130 km/h. The fastest train in India though is the New Delhi - Bhopal Shatabdi Express which touches 150 km/h.

History

The name "Shatabdi" means centenary in Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Bengali and Kannada - the first Shatabdi was introduced in 1988 to commemorate the birth centenary of Jawahar Lal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India. Sri Madhav Rao Scindia was Indian Railway minister at that point of time and the Shatabdi Express was his brainchild.The first Shatabdi Express was flagged off from Jhansi to New Delhi which was later on extended to Bhopal and is now known by the name Bhopal-Shatabdi.The Shatabdi also has advantages compared to other trains such as receiving priority in certain circumstances and also most of the times the train arrives at the best platform there is at the station (Platform 1 in most stations).

Train

The Shatabdi Express is the fastest train of India, and it runs at an average speed of around 80 km/h ("Please see : Fastest trains in India").

The New Delhi-Bhopal Shatabdi clocks 150km/h (highest in India) between New Delhi and Agra stations.

Related Trains

There is a variant of the Shatabdi Express, known as the Swarna Shatabadi Express, which is considered more luxurious by Indian Railways.

Indian Railways later introduced a lower-priced version called Jan-Shatabdi Expresses, which were mostly without air-conditioning and had lower fares.

Service

The train was considered a landmark when it was introduced in India in 1988. In fact, it was criticized heavily by a section of society for its luxury in a poor country. However, with the passage of time, the train has fallen far below global standards of luxury and speed.

Shatabdi Expresses offer fast connectivity with very few stops in between. They are fully air-conditioned and of a much higher standard than most Indian rail coaches. Shatabdi Express travelers are provided with snacks, breakfast/meals, coffee/tea, a one litre water bottle provided by the railways owned and operated subsidary "Rail Neer(literal translation water)", and juice.

Destinations

Indian Railways operates 12 pairs of Shatabdi Expresses and 16 pairs of Jan-Shatabdi Expresses. Out of the 12 Shatabdi Expresses, 8 originate from New Delhi (2 to Bhopal, Lucknow, 2 to Amritsar, 2 to Kalka, Ajmer and Dehradun), two from Chennai (to Bangalore and Mysore) and one each from Kolkata (to Ranchi) and Mumbai (to Ahmedabad).

Jan-Shatabdi Expresses

Some of them are:
# Coimbatore-Kumbakonam
# Bangalore-Hubli
# Chennai-Vijayawada
# Mumbai CST-Aurangabad
# New Delhi-Chandigarh
# New Delhi-Dehradun
# Mumbai CST-Madgaon
# Howrah-Ranchi
# Haridwar-Amritsar
# Thiruvananthapuram-Eranakulam
# Howrah-Bhubaneshwar
# New Delhi-Kalka
# Guwahati-Jorhat
# Lucknow-New Delhi
# Bhopal-New Delhi
# Bhopal-Jabalpur

Future

Some claim that since there is no competition with the passenger services of Indian Railways, little emphasis is given to the improvement of services.

Furthermore, the Indian aviation sector is witnessing stiff competition and various airlines are pushing into the low-cost market on domestic routes, which in turn makes it attractive for the upper segment of rail passengers to shift to air travel. This, along with an inability to maintain a high level of service, makes it increasingly difficult for the Shatabdi and the Rajdhani Express to keep their customers. [http://www.businesstravellerindia.com/200603/coverstory01.shtml]

See also

* Indian Railways
* Fastest trains in India
* Rajdhani Express

External links

* [http://www.indianrail.gov.in/shatabdi_trn_list.html Details of Shatabdi Expresses]
* [http://www.indianrail.gov.in/jan_shatabdi.html Details of Jan-Shatabdi Expresses]
* [http://indiarailinfo.com/train/videos/1519/664/12 Videos of Bhopal Shatabdi Express]